The present invention relates to an assembly for transporting tubes of the type on which yarn is wound on a textile machine.
It is known to provide a system for transporting tubes between a spinning machine and a winding machine in which the tubes are individually supported in upright dispositions on peg tray-type tube support members during their transport. Such peg tray-type tube support members are typically driven along fixed, slotted guide members in the linear and arcuate transport directions. One common type of drive for transporting the tube support members along the guide members includes a series of interrelated flexible endless belts positioned relative to one another to effect smooth transfer of tube support members from one flexible belt to another. However, the rotating components of the assemblies for driving the belts (such as, for example, the guide rollers around which the belts are trained) as well as other components of the transport system (such as, for example, stop members for preventing further transport of a tube support member and branching members for diverting tube support members from a given transport path) may detrimentally snag or otherwise engage stray yarn ends on the yarn packages transported by the tube support members. This snagging activity detrimentally impacts the production capacity of the transport system.
These known transport systems which comprise endless belts and fixed, slotted guide members also present certain disadvantages in vertically transporting tube support members. For example, one known vertical transport system relies upon pressing the endless belt against the bottom of the tube support members with sufficient force to insure that the tube support members move in correspondence with the movement of the endless belt during upwardly inclined movement of the belt. The tube support members are pressed against the top inner surfaces of the slotted guide member due to the action of the endless belt pressing against the bottom of the tube support members and the frictional sliding of the top surfaces of the tube support members against the top inner surfaces of the guide members leads to undesirable wearing of the tube support members. Additionally, such vertical transport systems typically transport the tube support members at an orientation inclined from the vertical, thereby necessitating more operating room than would be needed if the tube support members were vertically transported. Accordingly, the need exists for a transport system for transporting tube support members of the type which support tubes in upright dispositions thereon by which transport interfering acts such as snagging of stray yarn ends are minimized and by which the space requirements of such a transport system are optimally minimized.